Midland seeks $21M grant to restore long-offline Paul Davis Wellfield

Midland is seeking a $21 million Texas Water Development Board grant to restore the Paul Davis Wellfield, a long-idle city-owned water asset that officials say could become a third source of supply for the city.

The application is aimed at turning a dormant wellfield back into usable capacity after nearly 11 years offline because of water-quality concerns. City leaders have framed the project as a resilience measure as much as a new source of water.

If approved, the money would help fund construction of 19 wells at the site. Midland officials say the rebuilt wellfield could provide 12 million gallons of capacity, with 10 million gallons treated for use.

A long-offline water source

The Paul Davis Wellfield has been out of service for nearly 11 years. City officials say water-quality problems kept the field from being used, even though Midland has continued to hold the asset.

That background is a major reason the city is pursuing state assistance now. Officials want to restore an existing source rather than build an entirely new one from scratch.

The project has also already absorbed a significant local investment. Midland has spent about $9 million on the effort over the past few years.

Why the grant matters

Utilities Director Carl Craigo has said the state financing structure is unusual because the money would come as a 100% grant under House Bill 500, rather than a loan or a matching-finance arrangement.

That matters for the city because the grant would let Midland pursue the project without adding debt. Officials have described the funding as a chance to complete work that has been stalled by the wellfield’s long closure.

The city is also treating the effort as a supply-redundancy project. Midland currently relies mainly on its CRMWD contract and T-bar for water, and officials say reopening Paul Davis would give the city a third option.

Timeline and council action

Local reporting first flagged the grant request as a City Council agenda item earlier this month. The council was expected to consider the request at its June 9 meeting.

By June 11, Midland Reporter-Telegram reported that the city had formally applied for the $21 million grant. That filing is the latest confirmed step in the project’s push for state support.

Mayor Lori Blong has previously said the city is pursuing the grant because the opportunity is unusually favorable for a water project of this size. Other city officials have echoed that view as the application moves through the process.

What happens next

The next decision now rests with the Texas Water Development Board, which will decide whether to award the grant.

If the application advances, Midland will continue engineering and planning work tied to the restoration. City officials have said they hope the wells could be operating by 2030.

If the grant is denied, the city would need another funding path to bring the wellfield back online. For now, the project remains a long-term attempt to turn an unused city water asset into additional capacity.

The broader stakes go beyond one wellfield. Midland officials say the project would improve redundancy in a system that depends heavily on existing contracts and infrastructure, while also creating a potential new source of treated water for the city.